There are many situations where it is desirable to exchange heat between warm bodies of fluid and cooler bodies of fluid. One of these situations arises in the use of digesters for animal manure wherein certain useful gases are generated in the digesters as heated fluid manure is processed therethrough.
Since animal liquid manure contains considerable solids, it is difficult to move such fluid through a heat exchanger without the exchanger often becoming clogged with the solids. This is particularly true when fluid is conveyed through such a heat exchanger at low velocities.
Various mechanical agitating means have been provided in such heat exchangers to minimize the clogging problem, but they have not met with success. Further, the heat exchangers of the prior art are often very difficult to clean, and the buildup of film or solids on heat exchanger plates detracts from the heat exchanging efficiency thereof. Prior art heat exchanging devices and the associated agitation equipment therein do not successfully interrupt the laminar flow of fluid adjacent the plates nor do they keep the body of fluid in intimate contact with the heat exchanger plates so that efficient exchange of heat can take place through the plate.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an efficient heat exchanger for fluids that will provide high efficiency in the transfer of heat from a warm body of fluid to a cooler body of fluid.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method and means of transferring heat from a warmer body of fluid to a cooler body of fluid whereby the cooler body of fluid will have an ultimate temperature substantially equal to the temperature of the incoming warm body of fluid.
A further object of this invention is to provide a heat exchanger means for fluids that will be easy to clean.
A further object of this invention will be to provide a method and means of exchanging heat between separate bodies of fluid wherein the heat exchanger will not be clogged even when fluid flow is at a low velocity.
A further object of this invention is provide a method and means for exchanging heat between separate bodies of fluid whereby the fluid can be effectively agitated with low power requirements.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method of exchanging heat between separate bodies of fluid whereby laminar flow of fluid adjacent heat exchanger plates will be substantially interrupted and both bodies of fluid will be maintained in intimate contact with the heat exchanger plates.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.